Friday, January 09, 2009

Aspergers in the Work-a-day World

Now that I know that I have Aspergers, a lot of questions have some answers.

My work history has been...well, interesting. It's not that I've been terrible, but it took until I was almost 40 to have a stable worklife. A lot that I can attribute to having Aspergers.

It manifested itself in my roles in the church, and in secular jobs. I floundered in jobs where there wasn't clear objectives or where the answer to a question had to be "how high?" instead of acutally answering the question.

I am reminded of this in reading the blog of a fellow aspie who as told that their job prospects aren't good.

In some cases there are limitations. I don't think I could ever be a Senior Pastor because it is too people intensive and way too political, something we Aspies aren't good at. But just because I'm limited doesn't mean that it's impossible. I think knowing is half the battle. Knowing that you have an Autistic Spectrum Disorder means that you have the power of knowledge instead of simply stumbling around in the dark trying to figure out what is wrong with you.

The thing is, there are employers that are willing to make accomdations for people with Autism. We aren't doomed. It's not easy, but we are not doomed.

At least that is what I keep telling myself.

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